IBM Shares Crater on Surprise Earnings Warning; Software Stocks Sink
- IBM shares plunged roughly 24% on July 14 after management warned that Q2 results would fall short, putting the stock on track for its worst single-session drop since the October 1987 'Black Monday' crash (MarketWatch, WSJ).
- CEO Arvind Krishna blamed a 'capex reprioritization' by clients, saying customers are shifting spend toward servers, storage and memory ahead of expected AI-related price increases rather than buying the new z17 mainframes.
- Bloomberg reports software stocks sank broadly as the IBM miss delivered a 'devastating blow,' with the sector underperforming the broader market rebound.